My Weekly Spock – Spock’s ‘Primitive Sexuality’ Revealed!!

Remember a while back when I re-colored and edited an old article from the 60’s about The Primitive Sex Appeal of Dr. Spock? Well, if you don’t, Here’s the link. As you may recall, I flipped the picture, fixed the color and changed the lettering to reflect Spock’s correct title (for as we know, Spock was not a pediatrician!) I was so frustrated that I couldn’t find the rest of that article. But now, to my delight and for your enjoyment, the genius behind the tumblr blog “Beyond Spock” has found the rest of the article, that I now present here, complete with my corrected front page! The psychologist, Dr. Carol Hofburnham, credits Nimoy’s performance for part of Spock’s magnetism, but credits most of it to Spock’s unconscious roots in Beowulf, Sir Lancelot, and the Satyr. (We all know better, of course.) Enjoy!

The author probably has at least some of the explanation for why so many women adore Spock, but it’s certainly not the WHOLE reason. I read a lot of fan fiction (and even sometimes write some of it), and I find it interesting to notice what sorts of assumptions the authors of fan fiction make or what character qualities they choose to emphasize.

For example, in spite of Spock’s being Vulcan, a lot of fan fiction authors assume that Spock would be MORE emotionally available than a human, not less. Why? Because Spock can do mind melds. ;-) We can only ever know what a human thinks or feels about us by what that person says or does, but Spock could take you into his mind and SHOW you what he thinks or feels. Judging by the fan fiction, a lot of people long for that. :-D

And the whole “minds locked together” and “parted from me but never parted” thing makes a lot of fan fiction authors assume that a Vulcan’s spouse would be in constant telepathic contact with that person. Assumptions as to the nature of that contact vary from “could tell if he was alive or dead” to “could talk mentally as clearly as if aloud.” Again, those people are assuming greater rapport with the Vulcan than they could ever find with a human.

The thing I probably see most often, though, when fan fiction authors fantasize about Spock, is the desire to soothe his loneliness and to diminish his alienation by accepting him in a way that this child of two worlds isn’t accepted on Vulcan and rarely finds even on the Enterprise. They want to assure him that he’s perfect exactly as he is, that he doesn’t need to be more Vulcan OR more human, that both T’Pau and McCoy are wrong, and he need make no changes in himself. People want to take care of Spock, want to give him a home where he’s fully accepted exactly as he is. This desire to take CARE of Spock is an almost maternal urge, for all that it comes with some decidedly non-maternal aspects. :-D

And of course, not to forget the wonderful mind, the unstoppable curiosity, the devotion to science, the excellent ethics, the loyalty and devotion that he shows to his shipmates in general and Kirk in particular, and on and on and on. Spock is so very GOOD that he’s practically an angel, for all that his shipmates tease him that his appearance is satanic. *I* can see the halo! :-)

I could rhapsodize about his physical beauty, too, but this is already long enough. ;-)

I agree with Corylea on her points. And, by the way, do feel free to rhapsodise about his physical beauty whenever you like! My take on it is that Spock/Nimoy has tapped into an archetypal figure which most famously goes back to Mr Darcy and, to a lesser extent perhaps, Mr Rochester. Which might explain why Nimoy always protested that he “didn’t get it”, in view of the fact that it is archetypal, therefore unconscious, and goes straight towards some fundamental issues which attract women, without passing Go or collecting £200. Mysterious, lonely, dark and brooding, socially exaulted, apparently unavailable; it goes on and on. I doubt Roddenberry had this in mind at the outset, and Nimoy certainly wouldn’t have. I think that this, plus his utter competence, a powerful aphrodisiac, is why Spock blew us all away and blew Kirk out of the water, much to Shatner’s chagrin. The Spock character has an archetypal appeal.

Speaking of his physical beauty… I’m working on a new comic now that I think you’ll get a kick out of. :-) Thanks for all these insightful comments! Cory and Win, maybe we should have a group discussion about all this silliness, you two always have interesting comments!
And bruisercat, nice to hear from you too! Your comment about Trek as modern mythology is spot on! (And it’s a hell of a lot better than Star Wars!)